Is Apple making an 'iPad Pro' with a stylus?

[heatlesssun]

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/18/7785443/apple-ipad-pro-stylus

I know a lot of Apple fans in particular don't see this happening but there's been too much talk about it from too many people for too long for this be total BS. Considering the slump in iPad sales you kind of figure that Apple is looking to expand the line. They've done that at the bottom with the Mini so the next place to go is larger devices.

While I understand that these devices are niche, there's a market there and has been for a long time in the Windows world and people pay good money for these things. Niche and expensive isn't exactly out of line with Apple's business model. And I can't imagine that Apple would sit by and do absolutely nothing while Microsoft seems to be building a decent market for itself with virtually no competition in the Surface Pro line in addition to numerous Windows OEM hybrid devices.

In any case, there could be some interesting times ahead with the competitive dynamics of a large digital pen capable iPad and Windows tablets and hybrids, specially the Surface Pro. And I would suspect that Android will be in the mix as well. There's already the Galaxy Note Pro 12.

 

[Aurelius]

Before anything else: keep in mind that KGI's Ming-Chi Kuo has a mixed track record, so this isn't a surefire thing by any stretch.

With that in mind... maybe! Apple no doubt wants to push the iPad as a creative tool, but I don't think it's in a huge rush to embrace pen input. What hybrid Windows devices exist typically don't have a pen -- they're more laptops that happen to double as tablets. Microsoft hasn't revealed Surface Pro 3 figures, either, so all we know is that the Pro 3 isn't a money-loser like most previous Surface tablets.

It'd definitely be wise to make the pen optional, if there's any truth to this. It'd add to the cost (beyond the digitizer), like you said, and Apple probably doesn't want to encourage developers to create apps that only work on the largest tablet. Also, I think both Microsoft and Samsung have learned the hard way that pens aren't mainstream features. They're nice to have, but not essential.

 

[wonderfield]

The iPad Pro is a simple inevitability. At the beginning of 2012, I assumed it would happen within two years, but I thought pressure from Windows tablet makers would've provided a more compelling reason for Apple to move on it.

Despite good Windows tablet products, that hasn't really happened yet. Apple seems to be in no particular rush to expand the definition of iPad. It'll happen — it's just a question of when.

 

[heatlesssun]

The iPad Pro is a simple inevitability. At the beginning of 2012, I assumed it would happen within two years, but I thought pressure from Windows tablet makers would've provided a more compelling reason for Apple to move on it.

Despite good Windows tablet products, that hasn't really happened yet. Apple seems to be in no particular rush to expand the definition of iPad. It'll happen — it's just a question of when.

I would tend to agree that this was inevitable. But it is has been made more inevitable with growing market of larger and digital pen enabled devices for which Apple currently has no analogous offering.

The idea of pens are often dissed buy the tech crowd at large but Apple folks seem to have a particular dismissiveness of them in embodied in the Jobs remark "if you see a stylus, they blew it." Of course a digital pen and a stylus are completely different things, even very technical folks miss the difference. A digital pen simply provides precision and accuracy that just can't be achieved by pure touch alone. And it's a natural fit with a tablet form factor device. And it's interesting that they seem to be more popular than ever. Almost every major Windows OEM has lower cost digital pen enabled Windows tablets on the market. There's even more doing it Android now.

 

[MrCrispy]

Apple has a long and glorious tradition of copying features and doing what they claimed they'd never do.

Usual Apple cycle goes like this -

1. claim feature X found in competitor but not in Apple is useless and not user friendly
2. declare Apple will never have X, say how not having X is supported by 'facts'
3. implement X but give it a unique iName
4. claim X was invented by Apple, and is the best in the industry
5. declare how iPoduct with X is now the best iProduct ever

Macs copies the pc, iPhone copies Android, it will continue. e.g MacBooks will have blurry support, no matter how loud Apple shouts consumers don't need it, before a pc ever gets Thunderbolt or firewire.

 

[heatlesssun]

As far as innovation goes, who really dose much that hasn't been done before? Apple is very good at refining tech and polishing it and I'm sure that if they do a pen enabled tablet it will have a few tricks up its sleeve.

While drawing and handwriting may not be used nearly as much these days, they are still used because there's no way to easily and completely replace a everything a pen does with a keyboard and mouse. And using a pen with a tablet, a tablet is like the ideal form factor for a digital pen. The hardware and software is just in the last few years started to come together at affordable prices. Not long ago even not good pen enabled devices were $1k plus. Now they can be hard for $300, even Windows based ones.

 

[wonderfield]

Macs copies the pc, iPhone copies Android, it will continue. e.g MacBooks will have blurry support, no matter how loud Apple shouts consumers don't need it, before a pc ever gets Thunderbolt or firewire.

PCs have had Firewire (and Thunderbolt) for a while now. Many enthusiast boards manufactured in the past several years offer Firewire, in addition to most OEM workstations, and Intel makes NUCs (and motherboards) with Thunderbolt ports. ASUS, also, makes boards with Thunderbolt ports.

So...what are you talking about?

 

[UnknownSouljer]

PCs have had Firewire (and Thunderbolt) for a while now. Many enthusiast boards manufactured in the past several years offer Firewire, in addition to most OEM workstations, and Intel makes NUCs (and motherboards) with Thunderbolt ports. ASUS, also, makes boards with Thunderbolt ports.

So...what are you talking about?

He's a known Apple hater. It's not coming from a place of reason. Take his comments with a grain of salt and don't engage.

 

[maverick786us]

I am excited if Apple releases something like this. I use my laptop in my MBA classes, the only challange that I face is, making block diagrams. Once Apple implements a styles that should make drawing as easy as on the papers, I will be able to overcome this challange in future.

 

[heatlesssun]

I am excited if Apple releases something like this. I use my laptop in my MBA classes, the only challange that I face is, making block diagrams. Once Apple implements a styles that should make drawing as easy as on the papers, I will be able to overcome this challange in future.

Of course this has been available for years on Windows and Android devices. But it will be very interesting to see what Apple comes up with and how it's priced. It's almost certain to cost lower to mid level Surface Pro 3 kind of money. And if it's an iOS based device, while it will have appeal to Apple fans it could have a pretty difficult time appealing to many other folks.

But of course this is a niche space any way. But pen enabled devices seem to be doing better than ever in the iPad era which is somewhat ironic. But digital pen technology has improved considerably over the least five years and costs have come down significantly. Samsung has done a good job with its Note series in developing interesting uses for pens. Five years ago the entry to a decent pen enabled Windows device was around $1000 in the form of bulky convertibles. What few pure slates there were cost considerably more and still heavy compared to iPad or Android device. With fans and heat and low battery life. Now these true tablet Bay Trail devices with pens cost as little as $200 and some have iPad like battery life.

 

[maverick786us]

Of course this has been available for years on Windows and Android devices. But it will be very interesting to see what Apple comes up with and how it's priced. It's almost certain to cost lower to mid level Surface Pro 3 kind of money. And if it's an iOS based device, while it will have appeal to Apple fans it could have a pretty difficult time appealing to many other folks.

But of course this is a niche space any way. But pen enabled devices seem to be doing better than ever in the iPad era which is somewhat ironic. But digital pen technology has improved considerably over the least five years and costs have come down significantly. Samsung has done a good job with its Note series in developing interesting uses for pens. Five years ago the entry to a decent pen enabled Windows device was around $1000 in the form of bulky convertibles. What few pure slates there were cost considerably more and still heavy compared to iPad or Android device. With fans and heat and low battery life. Now these true tablet Bay Trail devices with pens cost as little as $200 and some have iPad like battery life.

I know that. Drawing or writing signature on a Galaxy Note 10X tablet is NOT that handy as doing it on a paper. So Apple has to design the SPen in such a way, that it should make the end user feel as if he is drawing or writing on a paper.

 

[heatlesssun]

I know that. Drawing or writing signature on a Galaxy Note 10X tablet is NOT that handy as doing it on a paper. So Apple has to design the SPen in such a way, that it should make the end user feel as if he is drawing or writing on a paper.

The Note Series probably won't be the main comparison to a pen enabled iPad Pro. If this iPad costs what I'm thinking its main competition will be the Surface Pro. Not sure what you consider handy, but writing in OneNote on a Surface Pro 3 I consider very handy.

 

[maverick786us]

The Note Series probably won't be the main comparison to a pen enabled iPad Pro. If this iPad costs what I'm thinking its main competition will be the Surface Pro. Not sure what you consider handy, but writing in OneNote on a Surface Pro 3 I consider very handy.

While drawing or writing you have to apply pressure, which provides that percision. Galaxy Notes and Surface pro 3 comes up with these capacitive screen (not resistive). So you can't apply pressure, but have to give feather touch, which is good for other touch operations, but it doesn't provide percision while drawing or while writing signatures,

 

[heatlesssun]

While drawing or writing you have to apply pressure, which provides that percision. Galaxy Notes and Surface pro 3 comes up with these capacitive screen (not resistive). So you can't apply pressure, but have to give feather touch, which is good for other touch operations, but it doesn't provide percision while drawing or while writing signatures,

Both the Note and SP3 have pressure sensitive pen digitizers. Pressure sensitivity has long been a part of digital ink in pen aware Windows apps like Photoshop.

 

[Airbrushkid]

I have the 128gb iPad Air 2. Don't plan on buying the Pro because I cannot the run the full Photoshop. I'm getting the Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.

 

[bebble]

I have the 128gb iPad Air 2. Don't plan on buying the Pro because I cannot the run the full Photoshop. I'm getting the Wacom Cintiq Companion 2.

Adobe is trying some cloud-based shotoshop. Once that is fully migrated to iOS, you probably want to give it a try.

 

[Terpfen]

The idea of pens are often dissed buy the tech crowd at large but Apple folks seem to have a particular dismissiveness of them in embodied in the Jobs remark "if you see a stylus, they blew it."

Why am I not surprised that you've completely lost the context of that remark? It was given in the context of using a touch screen on a cell phone. The point was to comment on interface design and true portability of the form factor--that if you have a stylus for a cell phone, it's not really a true mobile device, nor is it particularly user friendly, with reasons given that people lose and have to replace the stylus.

Applying a stylus to a 3.5'' portable display is different from applying a stylus to a 12'' stationary display.

That said, I think there would need to be a very compelling case made for using a stylus with any iOS device. iOS is expressly designed for finger input. Is there a use case where someone would need a 12'' device with stylus input? I'm not sure there is. But we'll see.

 

[heatlesssun]

That said, I think there would need to be a very compelling case made for using a stylus with any iOS device. iOS is expressly designed for finger input. Is there a use case where someone would need a 12'' device with stylus input? I'm not sure there is. But we'll see.

It's a pretty subtle point. A stylus is not at all the same thing as a digital pen. And unless one uses digital pens the most wouldn't readily understand the difference. Needing a stylus for easier command and control of a UI because that UI isn't well enough touch enabled is one thing. Using a digital pen for handwriting and drawing where neither touch nor even a stylus can provide the same capabilities is a completely different subject.

Styli and even attempts at digital pens are pretty common in the iPad world. Handwriting note taking and drawing are done by many on the iPad, but the hardware and OS support for these activities just isn't there, not compared to the competition. With that and considering the uses for pens on Android and Windows it's not difficult to see the point of pens on the iPad.

 

[Terpfen]

It's a pretty subtle point. A stylus is not at all the same thing as a digital pen. And unless one uses digital pens the most wouldn't readily understand the difference. Needing a stylus for easier command and control of a UI because that UI isn't well enough touch enabled is one thing. Using a digital pen for handwriting and drawing where neither touch nor even a stylus can provide the same capabilities is a completely different subject.

Styli and even attempts at digital pens are pretty common in the iPad world. Handwriting note taking and drawing are done by many on the iPad, but the hardware and OS support for these activities just isn't there, not compared to the competition. With that and considering the uses for pens on Android and Windows it's not difficult to see the point of pens on the iPad.

Problem is, we don't actually know if a. there's an iPad Pro, b. if it uses non-finger input, and c. if that input takes the form of a stylus or a pen.

Three bridges too far.

 

[heatlesssun]

A bigger iPad is kind of no brainer, what else is there are this point? Especially with declining iPad sales and the bigger iPhone encroaching on the iPad's sales. Not to mention that Microsoft is starting to gain momentum with the Surface Pro and other larger Windows tablets? And unlike cheap tablets, people pay top dollar for devices like the Surface Pro. It's a niche but premium market.

As for a digital pen I think it's kind of a necessity for expensive tablets because that's what gives them a productive edge over cheaper tablets and laptops.

 

[Terpfen]

A bigger iPad is kind of no brainer, what else is there are this point? Especially with declining iPad sales and the bigger iPhone encroaching on the iPad's sales. Not to mention that Microsoft is starting to gain momentum with the Surface Pro and other larger Windows tablets? And unlike cheap tablets, people pay top dollar for devices like the Surface Pro. It's a niche but premium market.

As for a digital pen I think it's kind of a necessity for expensive tablets because that's what gives them a productive edge over cheaper tablets and laptops.

So many non-sequiturs and poor assumptions here…

"What else is there"? Well, this is quite poor justification for the release of a new product. A better question is, what problem would a 12'' iPad solve? I don't see one. I can see problems that a digital pen on the iPad Mini would solve, namely a replacement for a traditional paper notebook. I'm not sure about a digital pen's utility on the iPad Air. And I don't see why a new size would need to be introduced just for utilization of an accessory. Is a 12'' iPad Pro more mobile and portable than a 12'' MacBook Air? Is it better? I don't believe so, especially not with Mark Gurman's MBA revision story.

"Declining iPad sales". Well, yes, but this doesn't actually mean what you imply. What this means is that the iPad is considered more of an appliance, or a device closer to a desktop computer, than it is to an iPhone. The iPhone is replaced every two years due to the nature of phone contracts. The iPad does not have to be replaced every two years. My iPad 4 is still going strong. I promised myself I would buy a new iPad when Touch ID came to the platform, but I wound up reneging, because the 4 still runs everything and the battery still lasts forever. Declining iPad sales does not mean declining interest in the platform, it means the update rate is slower than a mobile phone.

Surface Pro momentum: LOL. Just… LOL.

Surface Pro premium: -$900 million writeoff + ($908 million revenue - $839 million costs) = -$831 million.

Digital pen premium: Explain the iPad's complete and utter dominance without once. The iPad is so completely in control that it can be said that it is its own market; non-iPad tablet sales are complete garbage, no one buys them. If iPad sales are counted as desktop PC sales, Apple becomes far and away the world's largest PC vendor. And here you are talking about stagnation and decline. It's utterly divorced from reality.

 

[heatlesssun]

"What else is there"? Well, this is quite poor justification for the release of a new product. A better question is, what problem would a 12'' iPad solve? I don't see one. I can see problems that a digital pen on the iPad Mini would solve, namely a replacement for a traditional paper notebook. I'm not sure about a digital pen's utility on the iPad Air. And I don't see why a new size would need to be introduced just for utilization of an accessory. Is a 12'' iPad Pro more mobile and portable than a 12'' MacBook Air? Is it better? I don't believe so, especially not with Mark Gurman's MBA revision story.

What was the justification is the iPad Mini or iPhone 6+? The market.

Surface Pro momentum: LOL. Just… LOL.

Surface Pro premium: -$900 million writeoff + ($908 million revenue - $839 million costs) = -$831 million.

The write off was on the original Surface RT. The SP3 is so far superior is almost every way. That's why the Surface RT is dead and the Surface Pro line continues. The Surface Pro line by itself probably would be in the black, at least by a little by. And it's not like there aren't a lot of other hybrid pen enabled devices out there.

Digital pen premium: Explain the iPad's complete and utter dominance without once.
The iPad is so completely in control that it can be said that it is its own market; non-iPad tablet sales are complete garbage, no one buys them.

Yes Apple was the #1 vendor in tablets but the iPad was only 27% of the entire tablet market last year. No doubt Apple had the best margins by far but still the iPad is losing market share. So that's not exactly dominate to the point that no one buys tablets that aren't iPads. And a few of them cost considerably more than iPads.

If iPad sales are counted as desktop PC sales, Apple becomes far and away the world's largest PC vendor. And here you are talking about stagnation and decline. It's utterly divorced from reality.

It's interesting that you would make this point when I was simply thinking the rumors about a larger iPad, possibly pen abled, were logical. Because that would make them more like PCs.

If the iPad had killed off devices like the Surface Pro 3 I'd see where you were going here. As dominant as the iPad is it didn't kill off these kinds of productivity tablets. Indeed they seem to be doing pretty well. There's a lot more pen enabled Windows devices on the market at some very low prices now than before the iPad.

The iPad is the best consumption tablet out now. I've long said that. But I think consumption tablets have kind of peeked and I have a hard time believing that Apple has zero interest in more and better productivity capabilities for the iPad.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

Why sell you an "iPad Pro" when they can just sell you a Mac Pro for 5-15x as much?

 

[lutjens]

I'm happy with my Mini 2 retina, but would be happier if Apple made a version with 256GB of storage...

Bluntman...I looked at your sig and lolled...Pentium 90 with 1MB of Cirrus Logic. Identical to the first computer that was mine and mine alone, except mine was a P100 (overclocked to 133 of course)

Windows 95 on floppy disks, Connor 1.2GB hard drive, True plug and pray...and pray you you did...

 

[Ur_Mom]

That'd be a good feature. I'd like it, if I didn't already give up my iPad for Surface Pro 3. I don't always use a stylus, but when I do I'm so glad it's there. I'm surprised the iPad hasn't gotten one yet. I do see it helping with some additional sales.

 

[Snowdog]

"What else is there"? Well, this is quite poor justification for the release of a new product. A better question is, what problem would a 12'' iPad solve?

That is the real question, and I never saw an adequate answer since this rumor first started.

If it is going that large, adding a keyboard may actually make more sense than a pen. Many already are using cramped keyboard cases with the iPad. 12" would be large enough to have a standard size Apple keyboard paired with it.

IMO that is the closest Apple will get to an ARM based Mac. They would actually produce an IOS based touchscreen laptop/convertible. Why put OSX through an architecture shift, just have iOS be the new ultralight laptop replacement.

Not saying that will happen, but it makes more sense that bigger + pen = profit.

 

[Terpfen]

What was the justification is the iPad Mini or iPhone 6+? The market.

Who in the market is demanding a 12'' tablet?

The write off was on the original Surface RT. The SP3 is so far superior is almost every way. That's why the Surface RT is dead and the Surface Pro line continues. The Surface Pro line by itself probably would be in the black, at least by a little by. And it's not like there aren't a lot of other hybrid pen enabled devices out there.

Unfortunately, you don't get to escape the accounting impact by just saying the Surface RT wasn't any good. We know it wasn't any good. That's why no one bought it. Microsoft is still dealing with that billion dollar hole.

Yes Apple was the #1 vendor in tablets but the iPad was only 27% of the entire tablet market last year.

This is by volume, not by profit. Apple makes all of the money in the tablet market, to the point where it can be said that there is a profitable iPad market unto itself, and an unprofitable general tablet market that competes with the iPad market (and fails).

It's interesting that you would make this point when I was simply thinking the rumors about a larger iPad, possibly pen abled, were logical. Because that would make them more like PCs.

If the iPad had killed off devices like the Surface Pro 3 I'd see where you were going here. As dominant as the iPad is it didn't kill off these kinds of productivity tablets. Indeed they seem to be doing pretty well. There's a lot more pen enabled Windows devices on the market at some very low prices now than before the iPad.

The iPad is the best consumption tablet out now. I've long said that. But I think consumption tablets have kind of peeked and I have a hard time believing that Apple has zero interest in more and better productivity capabilities for the iPad.

The iPad killed off the netbook. That was its purpose. Steve Jobs thought netbooks were terrible at everything, and he was right, and he delivered a device that did the things people wanted to do on their netbooks, only it did them extremely well instead of terribly.

Trying to segment the iPad off by classifying it as a "consumption tablet" is fooling yourself. It's the champion of the tablet world. You're doing a lot of lying to yourself in this thread.

 

[heatlesssun]

Trying to segment the iPad off by classifying it as a "consumption tablet" is fooling yourself. It's the champion of the tablet world. You're doing a lot of lying to yourself in this thread.

You do realize that the champion saw a 14.6% year over year slide in sales from 2013 to 2014 in an overall market that while much slower growing in 2014 did see overall growth of 4.4% in units? Indeed the iPads slump is a big reason for the slowing of the market that still managed to grow with a big contraction in iPad sales.

As for classifying the iPad as a "consumption tablet", that's kind of how the industry looks at it. That's not to say that the iPad is only for consumption tasks but it's certainly not geared for them the same way something like a Surface Pro 3 is either. No integrated keyboard solution, support for mice, on screen multitasking or pen. That's simply not a device geared for productivity. That doesn't make it a bad device but there's a lot of room for the iPad to evolve to be better at productivity tasks.

If you think that Apple isn't going to do anything to make the iPad better for productive, then I think you're the one lying to yourself.

 

[Archer1212]

Only people I see buying a larger iPad are going to be "Professionals" that need to show off they have the latest and greatest and Old people buying it because it has a larger screen and they have shitty old eyes.

 

[heatlesssun]

Old people buying it because it has a larger screen and they have shitty old eyes.

If you live long enough you will suffer the same fate.

 

[Aurelius]

Yeah, it's a bit odd to deride large iPads as being for old people with poorer eyesight... well, you're going to be there one day, unless medicine finds a way to maintain your vision forever! That's not to say that Apple is designing with older eyes in mind, but it's a potential audience.

My hunch on the feature list: if there's a larger iPad, Apple will support side-by-side apps, but there won't be a standard pen (and possibly no official pen at all). None of the apparent casing leaks show a slot for a pen, and it still strikes me as counter to Apple's emphasis on intuitive interfaces over pen input (even if pens can be quite useful at times). This would be more to accommodate workers spending all day in Office / email, or home users who want to chat with friends as they follow a show on TV.

 

[Snowdog]

This would be more to accommodate workers spending all day in Office / email, or home users who want to chat with friends as they follow a show on TV.

A pen does that? IMO a pen has a couple of niche uses, mainly drawing related, and that is about it. It isn't like you can't draw without a pen either, it just increases resolution.

 

[Archer1212]

If you live long enough you will suffer the same fate.

I am sure I will, but in 50 years I expect the technology to be improved enough that I can get bionic eyes

 

[heatlesssun]

A pen does that? IMO a pen has a couple of niche uses, mainly drawing related, and that is about it. It isn't like you can't draw without a pen either, it just increases resolution.

Pen and touch can be used collaboratively, I think that's when digital pen input works best. I'm a big OneNote user and take handwritten notes with it almost daily. OneNote along with many pen enabled apps these days, treat touch and pen as two distinctive input methods. One can write or draw on a OneNote page while resting their hand anywhere on the page and only the pen will generate ink without stray ink being generated by one's hand touch the screen when the pen is proximity of the screen. One can then lift the pen to then pan and zoom on that page. On good hardware it works brilliantly and naturally and the same thing couldn't be readily achieved with either input method alone.

I know a lot of folks think of pens as an anachronism but touch only input doesn't seem to have replaced digital pens. Styli are a big iPad accessory and there are a ton of iPad apps that implement the concept of digital ink, GoodNotes is a very good and popular one that is a direct analog to OneNote. And there are more digital pen based devices being sold now than even before the introduction of the iPad. The Galaxy Note series seems to have been a success for Samsung and currently in the Windows world there are now at least four distinct digital pen technologies used in devices across a broad range of price points.

 

[Snowdog]

I'm a big OneNote user and take handwritten notes with it almost daily.

I am aware you love the stylus for taking notes, but you have to realize you are part of a miniscule barely measurable niche.

Here is a picture of the audience taking notes at the Windows 10 event. I don't see a single person taking notes with a stylus. I wouldn't expect to either. You know why? Because it is very slow/inefficient and error prone. You are simply in love with an anachronism.

 

[heatlesssun]

You are simply in love with an anachronism.

I understand what the anachronism is good for what it is not. Keyboards are great for high speed text input. Try doing manual long division or any type of symbolic input, quickly diagramming an idea or abstract concept or sketching a skyline with them and the need for a free form ink input method for computing becomes obvious.

It's not zero sum game. Digital pen input is simply another way to interact with a computer where other forms don't work as well. Handwriting might be niche in computing but common in life. Until computing a computing input method comes along that does all that digital pens can do then it's going to be around. All things that can be digital will have a digital form.

 

[Snowdog]

I understand what the anachronism is good for what it is not. Keyboards are great for high speed text input. Try doing manual long division or any type of symbolic input, quickly diagramming an idea.

If I am using a computer, why would I do manual long division on it? Using one anachronism, to do another?

As far diagramming/drawing. This is what I said from the beginning. But it is a small niche.

Even then I would probably never use it. I recently had to do some network diagrams, using a pen is irrelevant, because I didn't do it with ink, I used Open Office Draw (structured drawing like Visio).

IMO Pen is far from a central input device and is merely an enhancer to specific (mainly drawing) applications. As such I really don't see Apple shipping a tablet with an included stylus.

 

[heatlesssun]

If I am using a computer, why would I do manual long division on it? Using one anachronism, to do another?

Hopefully basic arithmetic never becomes an anachronism for the entire human race.

As far diagramming/drawing. This is what I said from the beginning. But it is a small niche.

And yet whiteboards and chalkboards get plenty of use all across the world everyday for this purpose.

Even then I would probably never use it. I recently had to do some network diagrams, using a pen is irrelevant, because I didn't do it with ink, I used Open Office Draw (structured drawing like Visio).

A good digital pen a very portable high precision pointing device. It's very well at home in something like Visio particularly on the go.

IMO Pen is far from a central input device and is merely an enhancer to specific (mainly drawing) applications. As such I really don't see Apple shipping a tablet with an included stylus.

A pen, not a stylus as those are nothing new for the iPad and have long been a top accessory for iPads. Sure a pen can enhance but it is a unique for input distinctive from keyboards, mice and touch. And as niche as it is, touch only devices haven't replaced them.

When the iPad was introduced five years ago there were plenty of Apple fans that thought pens were done. That just hasn't happened. And I understand that the iPad is the #1 selling tablet but it did see a nearly 15% drop in sales last year and it looks like that didn't happen to pen enabled devices. If pens are of so inconsequential there shouldn't be more models of pen enabled devices now than before the iPad's existence.

The iPad is a great tablet and it did usher in the modern era of tablets. But pens do work well in that world, pens are a natural fit for the tablet form factor. There wouldn't be so many styli and ink aware applications for the iPad if pens didn't have a place.

 

[Snowdog]

Hopefully basic arithmetic never becomes an anachronism for the entire human race.

That doesn't answer the question. Why do long division on a computer? It is just a waste of time. I probably haven't done long division in a decade.

But sure the next time I need to long division on my tablet, I am sure I will rue the lack of a pen.

The iPad is a great tablet and it did usher in the modern era of tablets. But pens do work well in that world, pens are a natural fit for the tablet form factor. There wouldn't be so many styli and ink aware applications for the iPad if pens didn't have a place.

I doubt pens have really expanded their tiny usage niche. Outside of Microsoft and Samsung, looking for a marketing gimmick, they are nearly unheard of.

Samsung Galaxy Note seems to have sold more on it's big size than it's pen. New big iPhones have decimated Samsung's top end lineup including the Note. If it was really about the pen, it should have been nearly immune to the iPhone 6/6+ arrival.

I have been riding public transit to work, for over a year now. I see buses full of smartphones and many Galaxy Notes. I have yet to see someone use the stylus on it. IMO it's mainly a gimmick to most people.

If Apple wants to make a bigger, more productivity oriented iPad, a good keyboard is really what is important, a pen is kind of irrelevant.

 

[heatlesssun]

That doesn't answer the question. Why do long division on a computer? It is just a waste of time. I probably haven't done long division in a decade.

But sure the next time I need to long division on my tablet, I am sure I will rue the lack of a pen.

What difference does it make how it's done? Why learn calculus a using a computer while doing it manually?

If Apple wants to make a bigger, more productivity oriented iPad, a good keyboard is really what is important, a pen is kind of irrelevant.

For a gimmick, pen enabled devices have been around a long time and even Apple has made efforts with pen and ink technology with things like the old Newton and Inkwell which I believe is still supported in OS X. And why are there all of these iPad styli and ink note taking apps if it's just so unimportant and niche?

Pens are a natural fit for tablets and for something you call a gimmick some people do use this technology extensively. I agree that a keyboard is probably a more important add-on to most for a tablet to enhance its productive capabilities. But that's essentially a touchscreen laptop and that's not new either. And it's not like a pen effects the use of a device via touch, keyboard or mouse.